Such a device and such a method are disclosed in the patent application WO-A 2005/024914. This application discloses the provision of a resistor partially on top of the metallization, such that the provision of etching holes can be dispensed with. By virtue thereof, the manufacturing method becomes more economical, and the obtained resistors exhibit a small spread, as there is no etching on the resistor layer. The resistor is made of a material containing, for example, titanium nitride, titanium tungsten or titanium tungsten nitride.
It is a disadvantage of the known device, that testing is possible only after completion of the manufacture. If the result is negative, then most probably not only the tested devices, but also those manufactured in a subsequent batch, will not fulfill the specifications set for the device, i.e. are outside a certain margin. Even though the known resistor has a small spread in comparison with a resistor with top contacts, there is nevertheless a substantial risk that the device is out of specifications. This is particularly the case for devices with a relatively low resistance, i.e. in which the resistor pattern has a relatively small area.